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Show GQ? Heel WirM C ; rXr tlVI lv Kick Brough , . - - -j :j . ' ' i I -v I ; i i 'z: " . V- i. i . . j - f -" ' : ' ' ' , - ' - : ' : ' ' I 5 On the opening night of his new musical, leading dancer John Travolta conquers Broadway with his j explosive interpretation of a man tempted by the forces of evil in "Staying Alive." j 'Staying Alive': enjoyable j brand of nonsense world. He falls for a star English dancer (Finola Hughes) because of her great moves. He pursues her, while his faithful girlfriend in the chorus (Cynthia Rhodes) stands by, ignored and constantly stood-up by Tony. She consoles con-soles herself by singing with the band at a local nightclub. (This not only shows that Rhodes is multi-talented, but it provides an excuse for lots of songs to go into soundtrack sound-track album.) The script by Stallone and Norman Wexler engages in one of the worst forms of romance-movie hypocrisy. The "unsympathetic" character char-acter is condemned for the same behavior that the hero engages in. Hughes is supposed to be a bitch because she treats Travolta casually in their love affair. Yet her infidelity isn't any worse than the way Travolta treats his faithful girlfriend. On top of this, Travolta gets jealous when either woman goes out with another guy. (In this, he's like the bratty heroine of another dance movie, "Flashdance.") Tony Manero is a total jerk, but you like him anyway. John Travolta overcomes your common sense and makes himself likeable he displays more charisma than you've seen since "Grease." He's often seen buried among all the other dancers on stage, but the way he wiggles his hips makes him stand out. And, yes, he does get the chance to strut down the street to the beat of "Staying Alive." The script is generous to him. He even gets a scene where his mother (Julie Bovasso) forgives him for being a louse, because it's part of what gives him drive. "You mean I'm a bastard but it's okay because it comes natural to me," says Tony. Travolta ultimately decides de-cides to leave the English girl and go back to Rhodes. But he also lands the lead dancer role opposite Hughes in the Dante's Inferno musical. Can Tony go the distance? Can he overcome j his emotions and dance with her as a partner, while at the c same time prove he's as 5 good a dancer as she is? Instead of a twelve-round fight, therefore, Stallone sets up a three-act musical with Travolta "fighting" his part-ner. part-ner. Tony even gives her i one of those "go for it" looks that Rocky threw at Mr. T. Furthermore, the musical they're in is a laughably I ludicrous piece of Hollywood I excess. Tony supposedly gets the 1 dancing role 5 because the director needs l someone to show anger and intensity on the stage. But you can never see Tony's emotions on stage for all the fancy effects smoke, danc- J ers jumping around on J scaffolds, prison-guard lights, howling, and electric 5 arcs. I "Staying Alive" is un- : believable, but" not ob- j noxiously so. And it's a fun : movie as long as you : remember not to take any of ; it seriously. ; A Classic Recommended Good double-feature double-feature material Time-killer For masochists only A Vz Staying Alive As a director, Sylvester Stallone may establish himself him-self as the master of High Camp. Most audiences will see it here for the first time with "Stayin" Alive." But it was already evident when Stallone directed a picture called "Paradise Alley." This was a Runyonesque story about grapplers in . 1940's Brooklyn. It ended with a lumbering wrestling match in the rain, where the combatants were photographed photo-graphed to look like the fighting dinosaurs in "Fantasia." "Fan-tasia." That's nothing compared to the "Hell Musical" in this latest movie. Stallone has not only made the Great Silly Movie of the Year, he has taken the fight metaphor of his "Rocky" movies and applied it to a Broadway musical. "Staying Alive," if you haven't heard, is the sequel to "Saturday Night Fever." Tony Manero (John Travolta) has left the Brooklyn disco behind and is now trying to make it as a dancer on the Broadway scene. Tony is more muscular, but still romantically roman-tically thick-headed. Dancing is the center of his |